Never Alone
by MadFox32
Summary: Well, Apollo took a leave of absence. Now what? Facing the death of his best friend alone just seemed like a bad idea, so he goes to find an old friend. Takes place between cases 1 and 5 of DD. May get romantic depending on how sappy I'm feeling, but idk yet XD
1. Chapter 1

I know, I should probably be doing Turnabout Witness. But I HAD to write it. I'll continue this, it'll probably end up being a 3-shot. IDK if it'll end up being romantic, though. Well, I hope you enjoy this. I always wondered where Apollo went during his leave of absence.

(O)

_What the heck am I thinking?!_

Apollo stood outside of the door to the Wright Anything Agency, after putting on the most emotional performance of his entire life. He had just told his co-workers that he was taking a leave of absence, but he wasn't quite sure where he was supposed to go. _Well, I know that I don't want to go back in the agency, but I don't want to be alone, either. Clay's… not home, and I don't have a family to return to. _Apollo began to walk away from the agency, refusing to look back. He felt his pockets, and realized that he had left his wallet in the office. _Well, looks like I'm out 30 bucks. I'm not going back in there to save my life. _

At least he had remembered his phone. He looked at his list of contacts, knowing that he had to stay with someone—anyone. _Well, maybe not Alita Tiala. Why the heck do I still have her number in here?! _

He scrolled down until a name caught his eye. _I haven't seen Ema in a while, actually. This isn't exactly the best time for a reunion, though. _He shrugged. They had met under worse circumstances, after all.

Briiiiiing… Briiiiiiing…

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Ema. This is Apollo."

"_Oh, hey Apollo! I haven't talked to you in forever!"_

"Yeah, we haven't, had we?" _Now, I'd like to stay at your house, because I think that the Wrights like a murderer more than me right now, and I don't want to be lonely. _

"_So, what's up?"_

"Well… I kind of need a place to stay for the night."

"_You have an apartment, don't you? And can't you stay at the Wright's?"_

"Err… That's a really long story, actually. I need… Somewhere else to stay."

"_Did something happen?"_

"Yeah. It's not a great time to talk about it, though."

"_Do you want me to pick you up?"_

"Oh, you don't have to do that… I can walk."

"_Nah, I'll pick you up. Where are you?"_

"I'm around the Kitaki mansion, actually."

"_Why the heck are you over there?!"_

"I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going."

"_All right, I'll be right there. I'll meet you at the entrance to People Park."_

"Thanks, Ema. It means a lot."

He heard a crackling noise, and then silence. Apollo sighed, glancing behind him. He was somewhat surprised that nobody had tried to chase him from the agency, especially not Trucy. He really wanted to talk to her, and tell her that none of this was because of her, but he couldn't. She had looked more hurt than anyone, and Apollo could remember the look of pain that had shone through her eyes. He shivered, and not just because of his memories. The sun was high in the sky, but the cold December air easily passed through the thin blue jacket that covered his shoulders. He gazed into People Park, children running around and squealing in delight. He was beginning to wonder if Ema was okay when a small, beat up car appeared next to him.

"Hey, Ema."

"H-hey, Apollo." Apollo didn't fail to see her eyes glance down nervously at the bandages around his arms, even with an eye patch on.

"Oh, right. You didn't hear about the explosion, did you?"

"Explosion?! I think you've got a lot of explaining to do."

"You don't even know the half of it," Apollo groaned. The car began moving forward, and Apollo realized that he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. He finally buckled it in place, after struggling with his bandages for a few seconds.

"Don't worry about it. I'm here to listen, but don't feel like you have to explain what happened."

"Thanks, Ema." He stared out the window for a moment. "I think I just need to get my mind off of everything for a while, really."

"That's cool too." Ema paused for a second. "Hey, did you hear about what happened at the Space Cen-"

"Yeah."

"Sore subject?"

"You don't even know," he groaned.

"Sorry if I'm bad at being distracting."

"You're fine."

"So, do you just want to go back to my apartment, or do you want to do something?"

"Can we go to your apartment?"

"No."

"Sorry, I was just trying to be polite."

"Sorry, I was just trying to be rude." Ema smirked at him. It felt good to be treated like a normal human being, for once. Ever since Clay's death, he had been babied by everyone but Blackquill. Blackquill treated him harshly, as usual.

"I didn't know you could drive," Apollo commented.

"Lana taught me."

"Who's Lana?"

"Oh, Mr. Wright didn't tell you about him?" she paused. "Oh, sorry! Sore subject! I forgot! Lana's my older sister. A certain blue-loving attorney defended her once."

"It's ok, Mr. Wright isn't really the problem," Apollo laughed, without much feeling behind it.

"All right, good. Well, I met Mr. Wright when he defended my sister. You know that fingerprinting powder you gave me on the day we met?"

"Yeah."

"I gave that to Mr. Wright back when I was almost 16."

"Wow. How old are you now?" Apollo blushed immediately. "Sorry, bad question! Bad question!"

"You're lucky I don't have any Snackoos with me," she grumbled.

"You still eat those?"

"You can't just stop eating Snackoos. Once you have one, you're hooked for life."

"I had one before, and I'm not hooked for life."

"One bag. Is that better?"

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Apollo smiled for the first time since he had left the agency, the corners of his mouth tilted upwards just slightly.

"We're almost there."

"Really? I've never been around here before."

"Yeah, it's a dead end down this road." After about thirty more seconds, she pulled into a parking lot. She opened up her door, and Apollo did the same. "Well, this is where I live."


	2. Chapter 2

Apollo and Ema got into an elevator, along with a young woman with strange hair. Seriously, there was a weird… Thing in it. Ema leaned over to press the 8 button.

"Wow, you live pretty high up."

"It's got a nice view, although most of the people I know are afraid of heights."

"I definitely fit into that category."

"Well, don't look out the window, then." The woman looked at the two of them with a smirk.

"Hey Ema, who's this?"

"Oh, this is a friend of mine. His name's Apollo."

"A friend, huh?" Apollo blushed, seriously wanting to get out of the elevator.

"Yeah. A friend." Ema didn't seem amused, either, though her face wasn't quite as pink as Apollo's.

_**Bing! **_

_Oh, thank goodness. _As much as he liked red, his face was fed up with the color for the day.

"Well, see you, Kay." Ema darted out of the elevator, leaving the girl laughing. Apollo followed her close behind. "Sorry! She's… Kinda weird."

"It's ok, most girls are like that nowadays."

"Hey!"

"Err… Sorry. I didn't mean you." Apollo winced as a chocolate snack hit his face. _Has she been holding those Snackoos the whole time? It looks like they appeared out of nowhere. _

"Sure you didn't." He heard grumpy munching from behind him. "Well, my room's right over here," she said, pointing to a door. She reached into her bag, test tubes almost falling out, and produced a small key. She inserted the key into the lock and opened the door.

"Wow, this is a big apartment," Apollo remarked.

"Yeah, not bad for a detective." Ema kicked off her shoes, and Apollo did the same, hoping that his feet didn't smell too bad. "You want something to drink?"

"Can I have some water?"

"You don't want tea?" Ema smirked.

"I get the feeling that you'd make me pay for it," Apollo laughed.

"Probably." Ema walked over to a cabinet, pulled out a cup, and began to fill it with water. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Ema." Looking around, Apollo saw a large box filled with spray bottles. "Is that all Luminol?!"

"Yeah. It's important stuff to keep on hand."

"It's like you're expecting someone to die in your apartment." Apollo took a large gulp of his water as Ema laughed.

"You should check the floor, just in case." Apollo looked down at the kitchen tile, and back up at Ema, unamused. "No, seriously. You might find something."

"You're seriously making me check your kitchen floor for blood?!"

"Yes." Apollo rolled his eye (the other one was bandaged up), and sprayed the kitchen floor with the closest bottle of luminol.

"Hey, it got a reaction."

"No it didn't."

"I'm serious. Look." Ema handed him her glasses, and he reluctantly put them on.

"Wh-whaaaat?! There's blood all over the place!" Ema burst out laughing, and Apollo stared at her as if she had brought him to her apartment to kill him.

"Luminol… reacts to… bleach… you know." Ema managed to say, still laughing.

"I didn't know that!" Apollo protested. Finally, Ema calmed down enough to speak normally.

"Sorry. That was hilarious. You were so scared."

"Well, yeah. There was blood all over your floor! Err… Bleach."

"What would you have done if there was blood on the floor?"

"That's a good question. If you didn't give a reasonable explanation, I'd probably leave, and… Uh… Actually, I'm not too sure where I'd go. Maybe I'd drop by Prosecutor Gavin's office."

"I get it if you aren't ready to talk about this… But what exactly happened?"

"No, it's fine. I guess I'll start from the beginning. Have you met Athena?"

"No, but Mr. Wright was telling me about her. She's a lawyer-psychologist at the Wright Anything Agency, right?"

"Something like that. And have I ever told you about Clay?"

"No."

"He was my best friend since junior high. We hung out a lot."

"Was?"

"He was… murdered. Just a few days ago."

"Apollo! I- I'm so sorry. Wow…"

"It gets worse."

"How can it get worse than that?"

"You know how I can tell when people are lying with my bracelet?"

"Yeah."

"Well, during the whole investigation of Clay's murder, my bracelet would tighten basically every time Athena talked about the murder."

"So wait… You think she's…"

"My best friend's murderer? I don't know. All I know is that she was driving me crazy, so I put on an eye patch so that I couldn't tell when she lied."

"So your eye's ok? You should take that patch off. I won't lie to you." Apollo obliged, and his eye took a few seconds to adjust to the light. He smiled slightly.

"But I don't know. I can't stand being around Athena, but I don't want to tell Mr. Wright or Trucy that I think she killed my best friend. Because really, I don't want to believe it. But why couldn't she tell me the truth?" A tear slipped from Apollo's face, and he tried to rub it away, clearly ashamed.

"Apollo… It's ok. Mr. Wright will figure out the truth, just like he always does. And who knows? Maybe Athena was lying about something else. Apollo… Thing's will turn out ok."

"But why Clay? He was so close to accomplishing his dreams… It's not fair! Sh-they could have killed anyone, but why him?"

"Does she have a motive?"

"Not that I know of."

"There's hope then, isn't there?"

"I guess. But it hurts to believe that your friend isn't who they say they are."

"You lost Kristoph in the same way, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I just don't want to have to go through that again… Two months, with nowhere in the world where I belonged, all because he ended up being different than I thought. Athena is nothing like Kristoph, but… I don't know anymore." Another tear slipped down his face, and he buried his head in his sleeve. He felt a hand gently rubbing his back.

"It's fine not to be fine, Apollo. There's some moments where you can't be as fine as you want to be, but you shouldn't be." Apollo lifted his head.

"S-sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"Sorry- I mean, I'm not sorry. I'm fine!" Ema slapped her forehead.

"So are those bandages around your arms fake, too?"

"Oh, no, these are real. Well, two days ago, during Clay's trial, there was an explosion in the courtroom, and I burnt part of my arms. It's not too bad, I should be fine in a couple of days. But then yesterday, I got hit over the head with a rock, by the courtroom bomber. He was trying to kill me, apparently. I had to go to the hospital for that one."

"Someone tried to murder you?! You're having a really crappy week."

"More or less."

"I'd say more, really."

"Probably."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?"

"Well, are you going to let Mr. Wright and Athena investigate Clay's murder for you?"

"I guess. Mr. Wright's leading the investigation, so if something's fishy, he'll catch it."

"Mr. Wright's really loyal. He wouldn't accuse Athena, whether he suspected her or not. Actually, I doubt it ever even crossed his mind."

"Maybe you're right. So should I investigate?"

"Not today. I'd say you should get one day just to relax."

"But Clay's trial is tomorrow."

"Is Athena the guilty party?"

"No, Mr. Starbuck is. He's definitely innocent."

"Then Mr. Wright will prove him innocent. Then, they'll have to accuse someone else. You can wait a day."

"I guess you're right. So, what should I do?"

"Relax, like I said."

"How?"

"I've got a few ideas."


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! I'm back. I have a great idea for a new story, but I promised myself that I had to finish this and Turnabout Witness before I was allowed to start it… I'm too ADD for my own good XD I think this has one or two more chapters… and I'm feeling sappy, so it'll probably be romantic. (I know, it's not a 3 shot like I thought.)

Well, I hope you enjoy!

(O)

"Umm… Ema? What are we doing?"

"Relaxing."

"How is this supposed to be considered relaxing?!"

Ema was mixing some strange concoction in a tube. The smell wafted across the table, which resembled bubble gum and moldy cheese.

"I'm not done yet," Ema pouted.

"It smells like you killed something. Maybe that's why that bloodstain was on the floor," Apollo said with a smirk.

"That was bleach!"

"And why did you bleach your floor? Because it was covered in blood."

"You need some solid proof before you go around accusing me." Ema poured a white fluid into the smelly concoction, and the mixture began to shrink. "Here we go!"

"What is that?" The mixture had gone from being a liquid to what resembled a pink sugar cube. _It still smells awful, though._

"Haven't I ever threatened you with hydroxyacelunodosetrase?" Ema smirked.

"That wasn't made up?!"

"Well… I made this compound by mixing random ingredients together. So technically, yeah, it's made up."

"Oh. So what does it do? Besides smell bad?" Apollo held back a grin.

"I'll show you." Ema picked up the test tube and walked away, motioning for Apollo to follow her.

"Where are we going?"

"The bath tub." Apollo tried as hard as he could not to laugh, but a squeak came out anyways. Ema glared at him.

"Fop." She stepped into her bathroom, and turned on the water in the tub.

"Nice bathroom," Apollo commented, and not just sarcastically. The blue and green room was small, but well-decorated and comfortable.

"I think that was supposed to be a compliment," she half-growled. "Well, you want to pour the stuff in?"

"What's it going to do?"

"You'll see. Don't worry, it's not toxic or anything." Apollo carefully took the test tube out of her hands, poured its contents into the water, and jumped back. The water began frothing, and Apollo slunk closer to it for a better look. Ema laughed, and stepped back herself. The foam began pouring out of the tub, and Apollo scrambled away from the water again, but crashed into Ema.

"Oh… Sorry!" Apollo pulled away from her, wincing as he stepped into the suspicious foam.

"Like I said, non-toxic." Ema fiddled with the pink glasses that rested on top of her head and grinned. "Was that relaxing enough for you?"

"Not exactly?" Apollo blushed, messing with his hair. "It was kind of fun, though."

"See what science can do? It's amazing, huh?" Ema smiled, her eyes practically glittering.

"Can science clean my socks, too?" Apollo pointed at his feet, which were covered in pale pink foam.

"Of course!" Ema smiled, lowering her glasses to her eyes. "That's what a washing machine is for."

"It'll take more than a washing machine to clean your bathroom."

"That's what you're here for, right?" Ema grinned.

"No." Apollo slouched a bit, and his spikes of hair drooped in front of his face. Ema leaned over and flicked them back up, laughing a little.

"I'll clean it up later, once the water evaporates. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks. Wait… Why am I thanking you? You were going to make me clean up your mess!"

"No I wasn't," she laughed. "Unless you thought cleaning up hydroxyacelunodosetrase was particularly relaxing."

"I do enough cleaning at the agency." He rolled his eyes, and then frowned. "I did, anyways."

"What do you mean? You're going back there, right? Once this is all cleared up?"

"What if it isn't cleared up? Mr. Wright would never accuse Athena of murder, even if it was true."

"That's your job."

"I don't really want to accuse her, either. She was a great friend."

"Apollo, if she's all that she's cracked up to be, she's not a murderer. Remember that."

"I guess. But what about Kristoph? He was a great friend too. And Mr. Wright. And even Clay… How could he have just died?!"

"Clay couldn't have changed his fate. And neither could you. And what about Mr. Wright?"

"Yeah, when he forged evidence." _Wait… She doesn't know about the bloody ace card. I can't tell her about that! _"Err… I looked up to him a lot as a kid, and then he ended up being a forger. Sure, he wasn't really one," _as far as you know… _"but my role model still ended up as a criminal."

"I see. Well, even if it hurts, you're going to have to accuse Athena, because you're probably right. Mr. Wright would never accuse her of murder, he's just too loyal."

"But what if I accuse her, and she ends up being innocent?"

"Sure, it'll be sort of awkward, but she's your friend—she'll forgive you. And after that, you'll know that she isn't a Kristoph. You'll be able to trust her."

"Sort of awkward? If she accused me of murder, I'd probably punch her."

"You'd hit a girl?!"

"Maybe not. I'd hit Mr. Wright, for giving her crazy ideas."

"Well, you'd better brace yourself then," she laughed. "Things will be fine, I promise. If Athena's innocent, she'll be found innocent. Mr. Wright will make sure of that. And if she's guilty, you're there to prove it."

"What if I can't, though? Mr. Wright's an incredible lawyer. He won't let her be found guilty, if it's the last thing he does."

"He's incredible because all of his clients have been innocent, recently. He told me about when his client was guilty, once. He put everything he had into proving it. Mr. Wright goes with his gut, and he's got a good gut."

"Was his client a good friend of his?"

"No. But Mr. Wright's friends are normally pretty great. Just look at me!" Ema laughed.

"Do you think she's innocent, then?" Apollo asked, almost desperately.

"I don't know! I haven't seen any evidence in this case. All I know is that you've got nothing to worry about. You're surrounded by people who love nothing more than the truth, and they will find it."

"I… I guess you're right. But prosecuting Athena feels… Wrong."

"Would you rather defend her?"

"No. I've never seen so much evidence against one person."

"Then let the evidence do the talking, not you," she replied gently.

"I… Yeah. I will." He smiled weakly.

"You're terrible at relaxing,"

"You're terrible at getting me to relax." Apollo smirked.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. We could watch a movie or something."

"That sounds less… Hazardous."

"Non. Toxic," Ema scowled.

"What do you have?"

"I don't really watch movies, actually, although we could buy one off of Netflix."

"You've got Netflix? We could watch Dr. Who," Apollo suggested with a grin.

"You watch Dr. Who too?" Ema laughed.

"I used to watch it all the time as a kid. Since college, I haven't kept up."

"So you haven't seen the new weeping angels one?"

"No."

"Come on, we're watching it. Now." Ema grabbed his wrist and pulled the laughing lawyer towards a door.

(A/N: Apollo referenced Dr. Who, how could I not? If you aren't a whovian, don't worry. The entire next chapter will NOT be a geek fest, the show will just play a minor role. And really, if you don't know what a weeping angel is… That's really sad. I've only seen a few episodes myself, but my friends Will. Not. Shut. Up about it.)


	4. Chapter 4

Yaay, I'm actually finishing this story! Sorry for the wait! Well, I kinda screwed up some things in previous chapters. October 18, Apollo takes a leave of absence. October 20, Starbuck's found guilty, Athena's arrested, and the Phantom trial happens. Sorry I screwed that up, it's fixed now :)

(O)

I woke up the next morning and groaned. I opened my eyes, and jumped a little to find Ema's head resting in my lap. I looked around to find a TV displaying images of weeping angels, and realized we must have fallen asleep after the upteenth episode.

_Starbuck's trial is tomorrow. _ I realized that I needed to get investigating. Immediately. Looking at the clock, it was already noon. I lifted Ema's head off my lap, and gently placed it back down on the couch. I took one look back at her with a smile, and left the house.

(O)

I staggered back into the house, completely exhausted. The room was pitch-black except for the warm colors of the tv.

"Oh, Apollo! I was wondering where you went! Did you do some investigating?"

"Yeah." I plopped onto the couch next to her.

"You seem enthusiastic about that."

"There's only one escape route. And Athena's the only one who could have used it." I looked up at her, feeling tears in the corners of my eyes.

"What's that thing Phoenix always used to say? You can't cry until it's all over, Apollo."

"Clay's dead. It is all over."

"Athena hasn't been found guilty or innocent yet. Who knows, Phoenix might come in and turn the whole case around- Tell everyone that the murderer was suicidal and jumped out of the window or something."

"Maybe. But it would have to be a really convincing turnaround, or I'll never be able to trust her."

"Apollo, things are going to get better," she reassured me, rubbing my back gently. I yawned. "You need some sleep."

"Yeah." I leaned against her shoulder, and fell asleep almost immediately.

(O)

I only saw Ema once between then and the end of the trial- and that was when she was sitting in the gallery. After the trial, a buzz of people swarmed us, and the mood was joyful and full of hope. I couldn't help but notice, however, that Ema hadn't left the gallery. I walked through the big doors to find Ema scribbling in a notebook. She looked up when she saw me.

"That was amazing, Apollo! I knew you could do it," she called across the empty room. I climbed up the stairs of the gallery and sat next to her on a bench.

"Thanks, Ema." I smiled at her.

"I told you Mr. Wright would turn it around."

"You were right." I looked down at her notebook. "What's that?"

"It's my scientific journal. I wouldn't be much of an investigator if I didn't keep one of these."

"I've got one of those, too. I keep track of my cases in there."

"There was a lot of case to document today," she pointed out. I agreed. "You were incredible out there."

"Thanks. I don't think I could have done it without you here, though."

"I think you're stronger than you give yourself credit for." She smiled sweetly, and I looked into her dark green eyes, trying to grasp the meaning of her words.

"APOOOOOOLLLLLOOOOOOO! Haven't you learned not to hang around blown up courtrooms alone?!" Athena looked up at us with her hands on her hips, and a wide grin. "Oh, never mind. You've got your girlfriend to protect you this time, huh?"

"G-girlfriend?" I choked out, blushing.

"Yeah! Everyone in the lobby was talking about how cute of a couple you two are! Well, I'll leave you two alone then-"

"Wait. Me and Ema are NOT dating."

"Oh, you seem pretty sad about that," she retorted with a wide grin. "Well, unless there are any more objections, I'll leave you two alone. Although Apollo, you could have picked a more romantic spot. Someone was shot at here less than half an hour ago, and it still smells like blood."

"Wait, what were people saying?" Ema asked.

"Oh, Trucy mentioned how she found cute things about you in Apollo's diary, and the Boss was talking about how you always used to make up weird reasons to come to the office just to see him, and Mr. Edgeworth was worried that the defense and the detective were getting a bit too friendly, and…"

"Can you tell them to stop?"

"I can, but I won't." Athena grinned, before disappearing.

"You wrote about me in your diary?" Ema asked. _Ouch. _

"I write about my cases. You're in a lot of my cases."

"And you were sad about us being just friends?"

"She has no proof of that."

"You let her psychology count in court," she pointed out.

"I can't believe that everyone thinks we're dating except for us."

"We can change that."

"How? Nobody will believe us if we walk out of here saying that we aren't dating."

"Yeah, it's easier to change two people's minds than everyone's minds."

"Wait… You mean…" I stared into her deep green eyes, which were almost glittering. All of a sudden, her lips met mine, and I let out a squeak of surprise. I pulled away from her, leaving her looking confused. "You want to date someone like me?"

"Yes."

"But I'm so… so…"

"You're the most amazing guy I've ever met." She smiled, and I felt my heart flutter a bit.

"You're… I think you're incredible, too." I leaned towards her, and our lips met again—but this time I was ready. I slipped an arm around her back and hugged her close to me, more intensity being added to our kiss.

"So, you aren't dating, huh?" Athena called.

"Ack! Whatever happened to leaving us alone?!" I protested.

"Apollo, you're never alone," Ema replied with a smile.


End file.
